Like last year the Madeira International Bridge Open is played on the CS Madeira Atlantic Resort & Sea Spa. The island of Madeira offers at this time of the year a tropical temperature so large groups of bridge players from Holland and Iceland (who must endure the cold … and therefore warmth lovers) are participating in the event while enjoying the sun and water.

The Polish team Akinom Poland is the winner of this year’s Teams’ Tournament. Irek Kowalczyk, Tomek Wisniewski, Monika Sataux and Jurek Petrusza started by winning 25-3 and 23-7, then then lost the last match by 14-16.The Norwegian team Dr. Hansen (Arild Armot, Bjorn Valen, Harald Nordby and Egil Hansen) won all matches today by 23-7, 18-12 and 25-5. They got from 12th up to second place, just 1 VP behind the Polish. In second place we had a tie in VPs between the Portuguese team Lara (M João Lara, Manuel Capucho, Paulo G Pereira and António C Palma) and the German team Fast and Furious (Michael Gromöller, Helmut Häusler, Klaus Günther and Christian Schlicker) but the Germans had a higher IMP ratio (IMPs won / IMPs lost), so, third place went to the latter. Fast and Furious won matches 10 and 11 and got a tie on the last round.It was a very close competition. There were a total of 40 teams with the same VPs as some other. More than half! I had never seen it before in my life…Tomorrow we start organizing next year’s Tournament. It will be from the 4th to the 10th of November 2013. See you then! Pedro Nunes

November 10:

Carlos Luiz -Nuno Paz; Manuel Capucho-Maria João Lara

62 teams sat last evening for the beginning of the Teams’ Tournament. The Portuguese Nuno Paz, Carlos Luiz, Nuno Matos, Miguel Teixeira and Rodrigo M Soares are the leaders of the tournament after winning all three matches by 25-5, 22-8 and 22-8.The German team Alker (Nedju Buchlev, Jürgen Sander, Jascha Garre and Matthias Schüller) are just 3 VPs behind, also after winning all three matches by 22-8, 20-10 and 24-6.The Dutch team Bricklayer (Hans Metselaar, Ronald Brandsma, Joe Dinnen and P. Parker) are in third position 3 VPs behind the Germans. They won all three matches by 22-8, 20-10 and 25-5.Sunday November 11, will be the busiest bridge day. Participants will play 3 matches in the afternoon and then, after dinner, will play another 3 matches. The Norwegian team Vicky, whose members are Olav Ellestad, Espen Lindqvist, Ronny Jorstad and Kai Jorstad, started yesterday in 21 st position and steadily climbed the classification “ladder” right up to the top at the begining of the day. They won all matches. 23-7, 18-12, 16-14, 25-4, 19-11 and 18-12 were their results.The Portuguese Dream Team 15 (Carlos Luiz, Nuno Paz, Nuno Matos, Rodrigo M Soares and Miguel Teixeira) won four of

Ronnie and Kai Jorstad playing against the local team

yesterday’s matches by 20-10 (twice), 17-13 16-14 but lost to team Barcelona by 13-17 and also when they met the leaders, by 11-19. They are now just 2 VPs behing the Norwegians. The Dutch team Bricklayer (Joe Dinner, Hans Metselaar, P Parker and Ronald Brandsma) managed to keep their third place. They started the afternoon by losing 11-19 to team Whitehouse and then they won the other two matches before dinner by 19-11 and 16-14. In the evening they started by getting a tie against team Lara and then they won the remaining matches by 17-13 and 23-7. There are 7 teams within 10 VPs of the leader

Helmut Häusler and Michael Gromöller are this year’s winners of the Pairs’ Tournament. This German pair won yesterday’s session with an impressive 70.34%, which got them an average of 64.53%. The Dutch pair Onno Eskes and Vincent Kroes were second on the session, with 67.83%, and kept their second place in the tournament, just 0.8% behind the Germans. The Portuguese pair Antonio C Palma and Paulo G Pereira got 61.42% yesterday. It was only enough to secure them third place overall 1.3% behind the Dutch. The Danish pair Espen Lindqvist and Olav Ellestad were third on yesterday’s session. They made 67.08% and it secured them 6th place overall. Teams’ Tournament starts, there will be, at least, 61 teams.

Paulo G Pereira & Antonio C Palma

November 8: Pairs Tournament 2nd Day. 71 tables, 142 pairs

The Portuguese pair Antonio C Palma and Paulo G Pereira, after getting 65.35% on yesterday’s session – 3rd place – now lead the Pairs’ Tournament with 63.35% overall. The Dutch pair Onno Eskes and Vincent Kroes are now second overall with 61.64%. They made 62.82% on the second session. The German pair Helmut Häusler and Michael Gromöller didn’t do as well as the Portuguese and the Dutch yesterday – 57.85%, 18th on the session – and dropped to 3rd place overall. Connie Goldberg and Kauko Koistinen did have a good session. They were 1st yesterday, with 67.34%, and are now on 4th place. There are 10 pairs within 5% of the leader.

Rankings

The German pair Helmut Häusler and Michael Gromöller, who were second at the warm-up session, now lead the pairs

Helmut Häusler

Tournament with 65.32%. The Danish Frank Paaskesen and Kate Reiter are second,

Michael Gromoller

2.54% behind the leading pair. In third place, the Icelandic pair Julius Sigurdjonsson and Sigurdur Vilhjalmsson missed second place by just 0.14% – an extra trick in one game can give you more than that. The best Portuguese pair is Jorge Cruzeiro and Paulo Sarmento. They got 61.35% and are now on 6th place. 33 pairs are within 10% of the first place and the tournament has just started.

November 6: Warm-Up Tournament

Nadia Bekkouche

Gary Gottlieb & Peter Fredin

The activities started at the evening with the welcome cocktail for everybody to meet everybody… Old friends, new friends… lots of catching up… Later in the evening the warm-up session. 77 pairs played. The Swedish pair Gary Gotlieb and Peter Fredin won the session with 69.84%. The Danish pair Flemming Danielsen and Nadja Bekkouche got 67.33% and were second. The German pair Helmut Häusler and Michael Gromoeller were third with 64.64%. The best Portuguese pair was Joao Machado and Jose Macedo. They are from Madeira and were 9th with 59.67%.